Detective Stories of Officer Xue

The ancient kingdom of Nanting, centered around Kainan County, was once one of eight mysterious ancient kingdoms in the southern reaches of ancient China, ranking alongside the ancient kingdoms of Gunan and Yulang.

In the 1980s and 1990s, swept up in China's market-economy boom, Kainan began putting economic gain above all else. Some people, ignorant and unscrupulous, racked their brains to swindle money, engage in illegal trade, and commit theft and smuggling.

Where there is crime, there are also "guardians of public safety" who uphold justice and fight evil, such as Xue Yiren, captain of the Kainan Criminal Investigation Squad.

The story takes place during a special period spanning the end of the last century and the beginning of this one. Under Captain Xue's leadership, the criminal investigation squad solves one major case after another: in remote snowfields, amid treacherous rapids, at a bizarre vocational school, along minefield borders, in shadowy ancient tombs, and deep in the mountains of the Heluo region and along the distant Mongolian-Russian frontier.

The book is divided into eight crime-solving stories, including "The Life-Saving Photo Album" and "The Search for a Dog." Through the half-century of cases handled by Detective Xue Yiren, it aims to create a border-police version of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

As Xue Yiren says, years from now, when everything is well-governed and society is peaceful and harmonious, there will no longer be so many criminals. Many young detectives may go through their entire careers without ever encountering a major case worthy of the name.

Of course, being prepared for war is the best way to prevent it. That is Captain Xue's ultimate dream. And when that day comes, people like Xue Yiren will no longer be needed. He will lay down his arms and return to the countryside, sitting by the fire on a winter night and telling the children gathered around him tales of his past cases.